A House on Sand
by BeautifulxDestruction
Summary: Damon's life took a horrible turn after he received a call informing him that his brother, Stefan, was killed. A year had passed and he's dead set on finding his brother's murderer and avenging it, but his life is about to be turned upside down once again, when love is thrown in his path. Will this new obsession interfere in his homicidal urges? AH/AU Delena


**Hey guys! Welcome! This is a co-written story that is written by Alexis (AlexisPetrova) and myself (KelsieLorraine). We created this account so it would be easier to post chapters. We hope you enjoy!**

**I would like to thank my friend Paul for helping with the title of the story!**

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"**Never let your left hand know what your right hand is doing"**

**-Matthew 6:3**

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The ringing of a phone broke through the peaceful silence of the warm April night. The air conditioning was turned to its max, trying in vain to alleviate the warmth. The clock read 3 in the morning.

Damon Salvatore was sleeping soundly on his king-sized bed, still wearing his office clothes, which consisted of a black pinstriped, tailored Valentino suit, and a pristine white, body hugging, dress shirt. He'd been so tired when he'd arrived home a few hours ago that he'd just fallen, literally, on the bed. Being CEO of his own company, Salvatore Industries, was a full time job that demanded a lot out of him. But it also gave him many gratifications; the joy of having travelled the entire world, for example. However, having such a demanding job also kept him away from one of the things he enjoyed most; women.

Ever since he inherited Salvatore Industries after his father died, he'd had so little time to himself, let alone to waste it on women. Before SI, it was a completely different story; he'd bedded any woman that came within a 20 feet radius; and he made damn sure they enjoyed it. But now, he couldn't remember the last time he'd had sex; he and his right hand had never been closer.

The phone kept ringing in the darkness of the lonely pent-house, awakening a grumpy Damon. He blinked several times to get rid of the sleepiness of his blue eyes. He made the way downstairs to the home phone, not looking at the caller I.D. He picked it up and answered.

"What?!" he snapped.

"Damon?" the broken voice of his mother sounded over the phone.

"Mom? What is it? Are you okay?" Damon questioned suddenly alert. Damon tried to swallow the panic, but it was hard when flashes from the last time his mother called him broken and crying.

"Damon, it's Stefan," she sobbed. "He-oh god, I can't believe I am saying this. Damon, Stefan is dead." There it was. Damon Salvatore's life as he knew it was crumbling around him as the news hit him.

It couldn't be real. It _couldn't_ be. "Are you sure?" he stuttered out. "I mean, it might not be him mom, it could be a mistake, it could be-"

"Damon," his mother cried. "I'm with Althea at the hospital. Sh-she was there. She saw the whole thing. They have Stefan in the morgue and they-" his mother broke off as powerful sobs racked her body. "They need someone to identify the body," she whispered. "I ca-can't Damon. N-n-not after your father, I-I can't ha-handle it."

"I'll do it," he said gruffly. He felt sick to his stomach. His mother's sobs, his brother's death, the fact that his five year old baby sister had witnessed it; it all nauseated him. "How is Althea?" he whispered.

"She's traumatized. She won't talk, she won't move. She's just sitting there, staring off into space. I don't know what to do, what to say. She's so little, she shouldn't have seen what she saw," his mother whimpered.

Damon's form was shaking in despair, shaking in rage. So many emotions were coursing through his veins. "I'll be there soon…after I-" he took a breath, preparing him for what he was about to say. "After I identify Stefan's body,"

Damon hung up the phone and stood there for a second. He was pretty sure his body was going into shock, shutting itself down. He knew, deep down inside, he knew that he couldn't shut himself down. Quickly rushing to the bathroom he emptied the contents of his stomach.

He couldn't possibly understand why this was happening to him, to his family. They had already gone through this once when his father died almost six years ago. They barely survived the trauma of losing Giuseppe and Damon was positive that the only reason they did survive was because a few weeks after they buried his father six feet under, his mother found out she was pregnant. It was unplanned and it took everyone by surprise. It was a hard thing to swallow, being pregnant again only this time having to go through it alone, the fact that this baby would never know its father.

His mother played with the idea of adoption, knowing that it would be too hard, but the second the tiny pink bundle was placed in her arms she knew that is wasn't a mistake, it was a miracle. _She_ was a miracle.

This time around there would be no miracle, just his brother's cold and lifeless body on the slab in the morgue.

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"Damon Salvatore?" a man in a white lab coat called him, and motioned for him to follow him. "My name is Dr. Sullivan"

Damon felt a numbness consume him as he walked down the empty halls to the morgue. The halls were white, the temperature of the area was freezing, and it was quiet. It is exactly what you would imagine the halls leading to a room full of bodies would look like.

Damon remembered the incident all those years ago. When his father died, it had been similar to this. They had been called to come to the station, and his mother had had to identify his body; when she came back from the morgue, she'd never been the same. Gone was the light-spirited woman that made jokes out of everything, whose light brightened the lives of everyone that knew her. From then on, she was a distant shell of the woman she once was. Her love for life had gone along with Giuseppe.

Now, alms six years later he was in the same position his mother had been in. He tried to prepare himself for what he was about to see, but how could you prepare yourself for something so horrible?

They walked for ages, or so it felt for Damon, until they came face to face with a double door. 'Morgue' was written on them. They went inside and his body was frozen, he couldn't move a muscle, and it didn't have anything to do with the temperature of the room. In the center of the room, there was a metal bed, a corpse laid on it, and a white sheet was covering it from head to toe. That was the moment when everything became real. Up until then, he was somehow hoping it was some kind of weird dream that he'd wake up from at any minute, and find out it all had been nothing but a horrible nightmare, but seeing that dead body lying there before his eyes, it made it _real_. Then he knew it was not a nightmare he could wake up from; his baby brother was really dead.

Dr. Sullivan pulled the sheet down revealing his brother's face. Damon choked back a sob a he took in his brother's appearance. His face was relaxed, almost peaceful. It looked like he was sleeping, as fucked up as that sounded. He was pale and his lips were turning a purplish blue color.

"Wh-what happened?" Damon asked quietly.

"Some neighbors heard fighting, yelling, and things breaking. They called the police, but by the time they got there, it was too late. He was shot twice in the chest. The apartment was a mess when the police got there; there had obviously been a struggle. Stefan fought for his life, but the attacker got the jump on him," the doctor explained but Damon had already stopped listening. "I'm so sorry for your loss."

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Damon couldn't breathe, he couldn't think. How could this happen? How could his baby brother be dead? He had barely begun to live! He was only 24 years old… As the initial panic began to subside, the anger began to rise. Someone murdered his brother. He didn't know why, nor did he care. He wanted revenge. He wanted to find the person responsible for this and make them pay. _And he would._

He took a calming breath before slipping into the hospital room. His mother was sitting in a chair next to the hospital bed. She was holding his little sisters hand, rubbing soothing circles on the back of it with her thumb.

"Damon," he mother said hoarsely. Althea looked at him. The fear in her eyes made him nauseous again. He quickly swallowed that feeling and rushed over to the bed, picking his sister up, and holding her close. He squeezed his eyes shut, holding back the tears as he held her close. He could feel her shaking as the tiny sobs racked her body.

"I've got you baby girl," he whispered. "No one will ever hurt you again, I promise." _I promise to find the bastard he did this and make them pay_, he thought.

Damon sat on the hospital bed and began to rock his sister back and forth, quietly shushing her. He hated that she was so upset, he hated that she had to witness it, and he hated the effect that it had on her. If he couldn't find Stefan's murderer for him, he'd sure as hell find it for putting his sister through what she went through tonight.

_I'm going to find you, and when I do, I'm going to make you wish you were never born. I'm not going to rest until I have destroyed you, just like you destroyed my family. And I'm not going to show you mercy, just like you didn't show mercy to my brother._

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On the opposite side Manhattan, a black SUV pulled in front of an old, slightly run down bar. "Take it around the block, Joe," a voice in the back of the SUV ordered. "I'll call you when I am ready." And with that, the figure slipped out of the SUV and headed into the bar.

The owner nodded as the figure, dressed solely in black, slipped into their normal seat at the bar. "The usual, Black?" the bartender asked. He didn't know much about the mysterious person that was in his bar at this time of night on a regular basis. All he did know was that they always wore black, which is where the nickname came from.

"Yes," Black replied simply while slipping out the phone from the pocket of the hoodie they were wearing. Dialing the number quickly, Black waited for the person to answer.

"How did it go?" a gruff voice required.

"That depends on how you view the outcome," Black replied. "Upside it that Stefan Salvatore will no longer be a problem since he is no longer breathing. Downside is that I had to get my hands messy and you know how much I hate getting my hands messy," Black elaborated.

"I'll have the boys clean it up," the man replied.

"Too late. I wasn't expecting this meeting to go down the way it did. He caught me off guard and we weren't quiet; although I did use a silencer. The neighbors must have called the police. I heard the sirens as I left."

"Nothing much we can do now."

"Nope. The only thing is that there was a little girl there. I don't think she saw my face though".

"There was a witness? Why didn't you take care of it?"

"I wasn't about to take out a five year old," Black snapped. "Don't question my judgment. What's done is done." Without waiting for a reply, Black hung up the phone.

Quickly downing the Armagnac and tossing some money on the bar, Black slipped out of the bar and back into the black SUV. Within seconds, Black and the SUV disappeared within the darkness of the night, leaving no traces to follow. It was almost as if they were never there.

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